chap5c

Chapter 5c
The Bottles of the Empire Dynasty - Purity/Empire Bottling Works

Purity Bottling & Manufacturing Co.

Purity
Purity bottled Pale Dry Ginger Ale along with other flavors, possibly soda and mineral waters. By 1906 when the company began business, the crown cap was popular and appeared on all Purity bottles. Although only two embossed bottle styles are known, Gardner (the manager) implied in 1907 that Purity used paper labels to identify its products (Blumenthal [1907] 1988:260). Thus far, I have been unable to locate any Purity bottles with paper labels.

Table 1 - Bottle Chronology for Purity Bottling & Manufacturing Co.

Style Changes	Dates
Plate mold; no flutes	1906-1908?
Plate mold; fluted heel	1906-1912

H&D 06
Method of Manufacture: Machine
Color: Light Blue; Solarized Amethyst; Colorless [Light Blue]
Size (in cm.): 23.0 (h); 6.1 (d) [19.4 (h); 6.0 (d)]
Primary Labeling Style: Embossed
Finish: Crown
Capacity: ca. 8 oz. [ca. 7.5 oz.]
Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical with embossed vertical ribs around the heel [variation - same but no embossed ribs around heel]
Front Description
Body: Embossed plate mold - PURITY (downward arch)/BOTTLING/&/MFG. CO. (upward arch) [same]
Heel: Embossed vertical ribs [no ribs]
Back Description
Body: Bare
Heel: Embossed vertical ribs [no ribs]
Base: Embossed - PURITY [bare]
Manufacturer: Unknown
Dating: [1906-1912] Bottles of this type were likely used during the entire life of the company from 1906-1912. The less fancy variation may have been the original bottle (therefore, only used during the first 2-3 years) or may have been a replacement during a period of shortage. I have only seen one example.
Collection(s): Becky Garrett Collection, El Paso Museum of History; author's collection.

Empire Bottling Works
The first Empire Bottling Works advertisement in the 1913 El Paso City Directory offered only "Soda Water, Mineral Water." In 1917 it added "ELECTRO-PURO TABLE WATER." Fruit Thrills and Pale Dry Ginger Ale, however, were bottled from the company's inception as carry overs from Purity Bottling & Manufacturing Company. A second ginger ale is mentioned, probably the Belfast Type Ginger Ale advertised in 1920 (EPH 6/9/1920 4:1; EPHP 9/2/1939 8:6; EPT 4/5/1953 B13:4). Empire's contribution to Prohibition was the distribution of Schlitz (the former beer).

Belfast Type Ginger Ale
Belfast Type Ginger Ale was first advertised in the El Paso Herald on June 6, 1920 under the heading, "DON'T BE A PUSSYFOOT/GET A REAL MAN'S DRINK/EMPIRE BELFAST TYPE GINGER ALE." The ad went on to inform prospective drinkers that the product "invigorates the whole human system, provokes the appetite, assists digestion and resists the heat. Sip it like champagne and you will never be satisfied with un-Irish imitations. At better dealers in western America and in the famous Juarez Highballs, across the Rio Grande" (EPH 6/9/1920 4:1). Note the inference to U. S. Prohibition.

The depicted bottle was clear (probably colorless) with a crown cap and slightly rounded bottom. No emobssing was evident; the product was identified by a diamond-shaped paper label on the body with a small shield at the upper point. Descending from the shield in highlighted rectangles were SUPERIOR on the left and DOMESTIC on the right with circles at right and left corners enclosing EBW logos. The words GINGER ALE were a solid bar extending across the center with EMPIRE BOTTLING WORKS along the bottom two edges, broken at the "l." In the triangle created between the crest and the "GINGER ALE" bar was printed MADE IN/EL PASO/U. S. A. with BELFAST/TYPE in the lower triangle.

El Paso Herald 6/9/1920

Schlitz
During Prohibition (at least during the early part), Empire distributed Schlitz, advertised as "Shlitz in Brown Bottles." The emphasis on brown bottles was probably a reminder that the brew had once been beer. Empire advertised that "Schlitz, the famous cereal drink. . . . is made pure--aged in glass lined tanks, cooled in filtered air in plate glass rooms, every bottle is sterilized by the Pasteur process, and the Schlitz Brown Bottle protects its purity till (sic) it reaches your glass." Although breweries were prohibited by law from using the word "beer," Schlitz modified its well-known saying to read, "Schlitz The Drink That Made MilwaukeeFamous" (EPH 7/15/1920 5:1). The amber bottle contained a modified version of the Schlitz paper beer label.

El Paso Herald 7/15/1920

Fruit Thrills

Table 2 - Bottle Chronology for Fruit Thrills, Empire Bottling Works

Style Changes	Dates
6-panels; 2-pc mold	1912-ca. 1915
6-panels; machine made; no capacity designation	ca. 1915-ca. 1917
Plate mold; machine made; 7 oz.; Empire Bottling Works	ca. 1917
6-panels; machine made; 7½ oz.	ca. 1917-ca. 1919
6-panels; machine made; 6½ oz.; Empire Bottling Works	ca. 1919-ca. 1922
6-panels; machine made; 6½ oz.; Empire Beverages	ca. 1922-ca. 1924

Around 1917, a new regulation requiring volume information on bottles must have been enacted (see Dating Soft Drink Bottles - Chapter 2). Empire apparently used generic, plate mold bottles as an interim container when their preferred style was being retooled.

E 01
Method of Manufacture: Machine
Color: Common Green
Size (in cm.): 19.4 (h); 6.0 (d)
Primary Labeling Style: Embossed
Finish: Crown
Capacity: ca. 7 oz.
Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical with plate mold
Front Description
Body: Embossed plate mold - EMPIRE BOTTLING (downward arch)/WORKS (horizontal)/CONTENTS 7 FL. OZ. (horizontal)/EL PASO, TEXAS. (upward arch) [same but no contents information]
Heel: Bare
Back Description
Body: Bare
Heel: OP 79 [722]
Base: Embossed - EMPIRE
Manufacturer: Unknown
Dating: [ca. 1917] These interim bottles were probably only used during the first year that volume information was required. It may have been that volume labeling was unavailable for Empire's preferred bottle design when the law was first passed, and these bottles were ordered during the interim. They are almost nonexistent in El Paso collections.
Collection(s): TRC Fort Bliss collection; author's collection.

The more common bottles were copies of the containers used by Houck & Dieter (cf. Angus & Harris 1993:143-151; also see above). Although these bottles were manufactured with six embossed panels that advertised the company, a diamond-shaped paper label was affixed to the container's center that extended across three of the panels. The paper label may only have appeared on later bottles but was present in 1920s advertisements. The product was touted as "Fruit Thrills From. . . . Electric Mills. . . . The entire flavoring principle of the fruit electrically prepared, combined with pure cane sugar, carbonated and held captive, in sterilized bottles" (EPH 7/3/1920 12:1). The product was available from both the El Paso and Juárez plants. Orange Thrills was advertised as "The Re-Incarnated Soul Of The Tree Ripened Fruit" (EPH 7/14/1920 12:5). Another ad boasted "Lemon Thrills for Thirsty Ills Is Surely Palate Pleasing" (EP Morning Times 7/11/1920 20:5).

El Paso Herald 7/3/1920

E 02
Method of Manufacture: Two-Piece Mold/Machine
Color: Solarized Amethyst, Colorless [6½ oz. - Common Green, Colorless]
Size (in cm.): 20.2 (h); 6.1 (d) [6½ oz. - 19.0 (h); 6.0 (d)] [7½ oz. - 20.2 (h); 6.0 (d)]
Primary Labeling Style: Embossed with Paper Label
Finish: Crown
Capacity: ca. 8 oz. [6½ & 7½ oz.]
Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical with six vertical panels created by embossed lines forming arches at the upper extremities
Front Description
Body: Embossed in four vertical panels (lettering read with bottle on its side from crown to heel), EMPIRE/BOTTLING WORKS/EL PASO/TEXAS [6½ oz. version adds in the remaining panels, CONTENTS 6½ FL.OZ./TELEPHONE No. 3165] [6½ oz. variation - BEVERAGES replaces BOTTLING WORKS] [7½ oz. is same but 7½ FL. OZ./TELEPHONE No. 3165]
The paper label was diamond-shaped with a drawing of fruits (e.g. oranges) both cut and whole on a twig with leaves. Across the drawing was the word THRILLS. Along the upper left edge of the label was [?] MANUFACTURED AND with BOTTLING AUTHOR[?] on the right edge. The left bottom edge stated EMPIRE[?] BOTTLING WORKS, the right, EL PASO, TEXAS, & JUAREZ, MEX.[?].
Heel: Bare [6½ oz. - Embossed - S-in-a-star | 29]
Back Description
Body: See front description
Base: Embossed - EMPIRE [Owens Ring is present on some machine-made bottles]
Manufacturer: Unknown [Southern Glass Co. (1917-1931)]
Dating: [1912-1922] [1922-1924] Containers of this type spanned the period of demarcation between the two-piece mold process and machine-made bottles, with examples of both manufacturing techniques being present in the sample. It is important to note, however, that bottles blown into a two-piece mold are rare. Some of the machine-made containers also lack the Owens ring, suggesting that they were made with semi-automatic bottle machines. Embossed Empire bottles probably date from the founding of Empire Bottling Works until the industry change to proprietary bottles in the early to mid-1920s. Machine-made bottles were probably used after 1915 in El Paso. The 6½ ounce bottles labeled "Empire Beverages" were probably only used during the transition stage known as Empire-Link Industries (1922-1924). See Table 2 (above) for specific dates for variations.
Collection(s): El Paso Coliseum Collection, University of Texas at El Paso; Becky Garrett Collection, El Paso Museum of History; John Gross Collection, El Paso; Bill Ward Collection, Oro Grande, New Mexico; author's collection.

Table of Contents
Chapter 5d - The Bottles of the Empire Dynasty - Empire Products Corp.